Ranking 1980s Topps Football Cards

 

Sentimentality.

            Nostalgia.

            It’s all gonna be here.

            Like a big warm soup.

            People like warm soups. We’ve had a few cool days here on the East Coast, so people are walking around in jackets and hats, and everyone has put their heat on. Full disclosure...it could be 30 degrees out and I’d never need the heat. That is to say, we are heading into my season. And while I’m an avid baseball fan currently mourning the loss of another baseball season,

 (yes, yes, I know...the playoffs…that time of year where the 200-300 million dollar payrolls get to shine in their most Darwinian way), my actual temperature comfort range falls right in line with another season…Football season.

            Yes, I love the fall. I love the falling leaves. I love the way the word autumn slips out of my mouth. I love to see ads for pumpkin spice this and that. And I love to watch people dress in unseasonably warm clothing simply because the dial has slipped below 65-degrees. The fall? I’m ‘bout that. And nothing says the fall like the smell of the pigskin (or Nerf, if you grew up like me), the clash of the pads, the shiny helmets, the militaristic jingoism, the breast cancer pink, the vast number of penalties, the warnings of danger…the fact that football is BACK, baby!

            My collecting is turning to all things gridiron, even though I know it’s better to buy off-season. But who can think football when its 90-degress outside?

            Maybe this guy did.

            Sentimentality? Nostalgia? I mentioned them in the beginning. And they will influence and cloud my judgement on EVERYTHING here. So…with no further ado, I give you my rankings, right or wrong, on what I think are the best (maybe not best-looking) Topps football cards of the 1980s.

 

1984 Topps:

            Admit it card lovers, you’re already rolling your eyes at this one. Regardless, 1984 Topps is my favorite set of the decade. It’s not the best-looking (although I’m gonna make the argument that it is) set of the decade, but its one of the most memorable. For me, 1984 Topps is flashy. It’s MTV with its slants and bright colors. It’s the “hippest” card Topps made that decade in all of their sports. Its as bold as the year it came from: Springsteen, 1984 Olympics, Regan in a landslide. The set is packed with some serious star power…and those rookies! Marino. Elway. Dickerson. Curt Warner. 1984 Topps also features the last card of my beloved Terry Bradshaw, playing his last game against the Jets, at their last game at Shea Stadium. 1984 Topps football, is the first football card I remember actively seeking out with the same allowance/couch cushion money that I was pumping into baseball cards. It’s a landmark set for me.

 

1985 Topps:

             God, did you hate them back then but absolutely love them now? Or is it just me? Back in 1985, I didn’t know what to make of these cards…or anything really. Black borders. Horizontal photos. Cards didn’t come horizontal in the 1980s. That was something the 1950s did. Yet…there we were. No real room for action shots. No real room…for anything. That late summer of 1985, I was laid up in a leg cast and the most I could do with football was watch pre-season on TV while all the neighborhood kids played Nerf outside. Football card were the closest I could get to anything. And Topps gave me…these? But the years have warmed my heart. I see, now, what an unusual and bold set 1985 Topps football actually is. Over the years, it has become one of my favorite football sets. I recently passed up the chance to buy the set, and I feel STUPID, STUPID, STUPID.

            I don’t think Topps has taken this kind of chance with cards since then.

 

1980 Topps:

            Another sentimental favorite. In the same year that I discovered baseball cards, looking through a pile of cards from a friend, I discovered that they made football cards too. And football loomed large for a 6-year-old in Pittsburgh in the late summer of 1980. The Steelers were getting ready to begin their season, after having won their 4^th Super Bowl in January of that year. I can’t begin to describe to anyone outside of that city what the names Bradshaw, Greene, Harris, Stallworth, Swann, and Lambert (to just name a few) meant. They were legends. They were almost Gods. And the 1980 Topps set was pretty cool itself. I like that the thin borders leave a lot of room for the player photograph. And the team name, player name, position; they exist in a nice football-esque orb at the bottom center of the card. 1980 Topps is the penultimate set that didn’t have a license to show team logos…but that doesn’t hurt the set. In fact, Topps football from its inception to 1981 did a very good job of making collectors think and feel the authenticity of the cards, even though there was something glaring missing.

 

1983 Topps:

            This set could very well have easily been up there at the top of the Topps. I just think 1984 and 1985 have a little something more. But I LOVE 1983 Topps football cards. These are the first Topps cards that I ever remember opening. NOSTALGIA. Not like 1984 Topps, where us kids went to Thrift Drug with our own money, but 1983 Topps was more in the vein of mom needing something to shut me and my brother up, baseball was out of season, so here’s a 25-cent pack of something, kid. Again, this is another set that Topps gives over to photography without trying to spice things up. Topps was so minimalist in 1983, that the team’s name is just a bold white outline, whose color is filled in with the photograph. And those photos are sharp too. This is the first set that I remember being clear photographs, instead of the grainier photos that we always seemed to get on cards.

 

1987 Topps:

            This is another one of those sets that could’ve been near the top for me. Its fourth…so I guess it technically IS near the top. But you get what I mean. I wanted to chalk my love of this set to me being 13 at the time of its release, and at 13 you could throw any card in front of me and I’d declare it genius. That statement takes nothing away from 1987 Topps, Fleer and Donruss baseball which are all, in fact, absolute genius. But I love the 1987 Topps football design all the same. Again, it’s another card that’s giving way to the photo of the player. Some in-action. Some seemingly taken when friendly games of catch were going on. The “dueling” flags at the top really do it for me. Just a catchy design the whole way around.

 

1986 Topps:

            Like 1985 Topps, 1986 Topps football card was another design that I wasn’t really wowed by as a kid but have come to absolutely love. I don’t why I didn’t like those green borders with the yard markers, except to say that I might’ve been a pretty conservative collector as a kid. I know see 1986 Topps as one of the more inventive sets of the decade, if not thee most inventive design. I mean, you do sacrifice some room for player images so that those green borders can have a chance to stand out…but I think it’s worth it. The player’s name and position information is crisp and clear in a small box, also incased by the border, at the bottom of the card. The team banner adds a nice little classic touch. I didn’t realize it then, but Topps had a pretty nice design run going from 1983-1987.

 

1982 Topps:

            Probably should be higher up for me on this list because I really do like the 1982 design as well. Topps’ first design in which they had the rights to team logos. And they make it know by having the team helmet joining the team’s name in the bottom left-hand corner of the card. The pennant adds a nice touch too. It’s a classic football card the whole way round. But…and maybe it’s just me. A lot of the photos feel grainy and out of focus. Or far away. The Lawrence Taylor rookie card looks like someone took a zoomed photo of him from the stands.

 

1988 Topps:

            A big set for me because of the Bo Jackson rookie card, but not of the more appealing to me. Although I do admire its simplicity. But there’s something about the colored border that takes away a lot of the player image and make the cards look a little bit claustrophobic. The helmets stand on their own at the bottom of the card, just left of center, to denote the team’s name. the NFL was big business by the late 80’s, and helmet alone could tell you who that team is. It’s a solid card.

 

1981 Topps:

            The last year Topps would have to contend with not being able to show team logos on cards…and they do another great job of not making the collector really notice.  I’ve always found the design to be a little bit dull…the football card version of 1961 Topps baseball. It’s simple and gets the job done…but it’s kind of meh. That said, anyone want to pass a Joe Montana rookie my way…I wouldn’t say no.

 

1989 Topps:

            This one bored me when it came out and it bores me now. There’s a design on the border, yes, but so what? It’s not symbolic of anything other than maybe Topps had a bland design and wanted to spruce it up a bit. Jazz that card up with some color blocks. Was someone who used to work for Donruss working for Topps in 1989? Feels like it. The player name/team/position seem almost inconsequential to the card. The team name is small too. The whole thing looks like one of those auto stickers that are places on cards now in lieu of having the player sign the actual card. The one good thing I can say is that there’s plenty of room for photos, which is nice, because by 1989, Topps football was showing more on-field action in their base cards, instead of leaving that for In-Action cards.

 

Overall, I’m a big fan of 1980s Topps Football cards. Granted, they were the only game in town for the better part of the decade. But the cards had style. Sadly, the 1980s would be the last decade, for some time, that Topps granted its own individual design their football cards. By 1991, all of Topps cards would become uniform for baseball, football, hockey, and eventually the re-introduction of basketball cards. I’m sure it saved Topps money and time, but, as a collector, it seemed dull and uninspired.  I liked the uniqueness of the designs of the various sports. Maybe that’s why I stopped collecting football cards after the 1990 season. Or my money was going elsewhere…and something had to go.

 

Thanks for reading! Happy collecting!

NEXT FRIDAY: Football cards…again. I bought new 2022 football product to rip for the first time in 32 years!